Puyat Steel decries entry of low-quality Chinese steel roofing

Puyat Steel Corp., the country’s pioneer in steel roof manufacturing, decried once more the entry of Chinese steel roof imports, saying that these substandard GI and pre-painted steel sheets have failed to meet standards set by the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Enrique Chuidian, general manager of Puyat Steel, said that tests conducted by the Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC) show that galvanized coatings for some of these Chinese products “are so low that they are not even half the ISO standards” being followed by most countries.

Samples of Galvalume and GI products from China were found to have a coating mass of only 27g/m2 and 66g/m2, way below the ISO level of 90g/m2 for Galvalume and 100g/m2 for GI sheets.

“These products with low-level coating tend to rust within two years,” he said.
Puyat Steel has petitioned the government to impose a safeguard duty on Chinese GI and PPGI products to protect the local industry from unfair, subsidized competition from China and deter consumers from buying cheap but low quality Chinese steel roofing.

The petition is still being reviewed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Other Asean countries and Australia have also filed either safeguard or anti-dumping petitions against Chinese steel roofing products. Indonesia has a 12.5 percent duty on Galvalume and has petitioned for safeguard protection against Chinese aluminum zinc coated steel, while Thailand imposed an anti-dumping duty of 26.22 percent on Chinese zinc alloy coated steel and 42.88 percent on Chinese PPGI products.

Malaysia has a 30 percent import duty on Galvalume and GI sheets while Australia has a 32 percent import duty on Chinese flat steel sheets.

Chuidian said the Philippines needs to act swiftly on the safeguard petition as the continued and unhampered entry of subsidized but poor-quality Chinese roofing is hurting the local steel manufacturing sector and hoodwinking consumers into purchasing these cheap products only to find that they deteriorate quickly, forcing them to have to spend more for replacements.